Along with yesterday’s view of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Walt was kind enough to send along this real photo postcard of Okmulgee Tech, now known as the Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology.

The “DOPS” stampbox on this postcard was used from 1925 to 1942; I would guess that this postcard was produced closer to the end of that window.

For Postcard Friendship Friday, a postcard that should have gone to the mailbox of a friend or suitor, instead of to this collector.

This was certainly a surprise in my mailbox: a real photo postcard (RPPC) received through Postcrossing from Richard, who took great care in sending it to ensure that it arrived safely.  Although he did not enclose a note, I am very appreciative of his efforts.

The stampbox indicates that this card was manufactured in Germany, probably around 1912.  It’s very well produced and well-preserved; it’s a card that I might have chosen for myself.

Be sure to check out the other blogs celebrating Postcard Friendship Friday.

For this week’s sortie into Postcard Friendship Friday, let us consider this photograph of friends.  Two of them are clearly soldiers, and the notation “1918″ puts them at the end of World War I.  But whence?

I puzzled over the origin of this card for quite a while.  First there was some ambiguity as to the handwriting on the back — the only clue whatsoever on this real photo postcard.  Tig lieu, perhaps?  Researching several permutations finally yielded success after I decided that the word was “Jiglau”.

It turns out that “Jiglau” is a variation on the spelling of Iglau, which is the German name for Jihlava, a city in the Vysočina Region of what is now the Czech Republic.  Its predecessor, Czechoslovakia or the Czechoslovak Republic, was created on October 28, 1918.  Previously, it had been part of Austria-Hungary.

Let us assume that two of these young men are newly minted Czech soldiers, and that the three of them are posing to celebrate the end of hostilities and the birth of a nation.

Be sure to check out the other blogs celebrating Postcard Friendship Friday.

Here is a terrific example of the photography of Byron Harmon, a nature photographer who worked out of Banff, Alberta in the early part of the 20th century. If we assume that the photo was taken late in the day, then the shadows indicate that these Three Wise Goats are heading towards the East, possibly in search of a Star.

Toni McLaughlin has a copy of this card as well (look for #807) and there are some interesting differences. For starters, the color is different, which could either indicate that my card has faded more over the years, or that the developing process or chemicals were not identical. Additionally, there are some marks on my card that are not present on hers. Since the marks are on the photo but not on the border, that implies to me that the photographic plate may have been marred in some way between the time each of these photo postcards was developed.

I wish I were able to discern some text on the pillars or sign shown in this RPPC. I tried scanning this card at resolutions of 2400 dots per inch and up but, unfortunately, the resolution of the photograph itself isn’t nearly that high. Where does this gate lead? A park? A private estate? A cemetery, perhaps?

The stampbox on this card indicates that it was manufactured between 1905 and 1908; the fact that the card has an undivided back (meaning that the back is for the address only, and that any message was to have been written on the front) further implies that it was made before March of 1907, when divided-back cards became legal.

There are more than a few real photo postcards out there depicting Patrick J. “Paddy” Carroll, his wife Beatrice, and their sled dog team on their transcontinental trip, but this one has no postcard markings on the back — making it technically just a photo. My notes say that I paid ten cents for it in 1998.

It’s difficult to find concrete information on the Carrolls. Supposedly, it was Beatrice who raised and trained the dogs, and that their trip was financed, at least in part, through the sale of postcards like these. Also, Paddy is said to have written a small booklet of poems entitled Ditties of a Dog Musher, again using the proceeds towards the trip. It also appears that their trip was successful, and that they returned the same way the following year.

After the trip, the Carrolls are said to have settled in Granisle, British Columbia, where Paddy Carroll became a prospector and did quite well in the copper mine trade.

This real photo postcard is printed on AZO paper and, judging from the stampbox, was produced sometime between 1904 and 1918. It was purchased in the same lot as this real photo postcard of a barn and I would not be surprised if it came from the same family.

I love Captain Cool, center, and his squad of traffic goons in this RPPC from 1949. The back of the card doesn’t have any identifiable markings from the manufacturer, but someone was kind enough to make notes for me:

Unfortunately, the only German that I can translate from this is “Harley-Davidson”.

Lest you think that these aren’t enough cops to manage all of the traffic violators in Vienna, not to worry; their numbers would more than double by 1950:

This card has a little more detail on the back but, unfortunately, my limited ability to read German is further hindered by the antiquated handwriting:

All that I can really make out from this is that it is addressed to “my sweetheart” (I think) and that it is dated Vienna, 12 November 1950. If you can clarify this for me, I would appreciate it.

This real photo postcard (RPPC) is indeed an actual photograph, with postcard markings stamped on the back. The stampbox indicates that the paper was made by a company called AZO and, based on the stampbox’s particular design, the date of manufacture can be narrowed down to sometime between 1904 and 1918. Unfortunately, it is hard to narrow it down any further with any degree of certainty.

The detail at right of the three people in the photograph is exactly a one inch square. After putting this detail through several filters and enhancements, I am reasonably sure that the folks pictured are African-Americans. Click on the image for yourself to see a larger version.

Byron Harmon left Tacoma, Washington in 1903 to photograph mountains and, realizing that there were no photography studios in the Canadian Rockies, settled in Banff, Alberta. The surviving collection of photos numbers over 6,000.

On this card, barely visible near the bottom center, is the legend “Lake Louise. 118.”, scratched into the negative by the photographer. An identical real photo postcard with a more visible legend can be seen in Toni McLaughlin’s collection of Harmon RPPCs (look for #118). Toni also has images of a dozen white border postcards of Harmon’s published in the early 1920′s, the first of which is Lake Louise taken from an ever so slightly different angle.

The back of the card reads “Along the Line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Photographed and Copyrighted by Byron Harmon, Banff, Canada.”